picture book Archives - Page 704 of 716

In Search of the Little Prince
by Bimba Landmann (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: As a child, Antoine dreamed of flying. His dream was realized when he became a pilot, first serving France during World War I, then working as an international mail courier. As he wrote letters to his family describing the foreign countries he visited, he soon discovered that writing contained its own sense of adventure. His stories showed a childlike fascination with the world, culminating with The Little Prince, one of the best-selling books ever published.

This picture book biography begins on the endpapers with photographs of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his family as a child and an adult. There is also a quote from his writings (shared below).

Snippet:
At Saint-Maurice I have a huge trunk. I’ve been filling it, ever since I was 7 years old, with my plans . . . with the letters I receive, with my photos. With all I love, think about, and want to remember. At times I spread them out haphazardly on the floor. As I look down, I am reminded of all these things once again. Nothing but that trunk is of importance to me. –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Ideas Whenever I visit a school, the first question that the students ask me, “Where do you get your ideas?” I have been asked this question so many times that I included the answer in the bio on my webpage!

What I love about the quote that begins this biography is his age. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry began writing as a child.

At Saint-Maurice I have a huge trunk. I’ve been filling it, ever since I was 7 years old

And what did he place into that trunk?

I’ve been filling it, ever since I was 7 years old, with my plans . . . with the letters I receive, with my photos. With all I love, think about, and want to remember.

All of that inspiration is saved, it is stored.. but it is not forgotten.

At times I spread them out haphazardly on the floor. As I look down, I am reminded of all these things once again.

And so the book begins with its own mini lesson on the trait of ideas. There is even a painting of the huge trunk with letters spilling out. This picture book biography is two stories in one. Readers will learn about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s life and the creative process.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Goodnight Football
by Michael Dahl (Author) and Christina E. Forshay (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A celebration of football, friendship, and family from the opening kick off to the final whistle with rhyming text and a gentle ending for the youngest fans.

Snippet:
It’s the end of the week,
it’s the best of all sights–
beneath the night sky
lies a field of bright lights!

Watch the book trailer.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Word Choice This picture book story is told in rhyme and one of the key elements in a rhyming story is word choice. Like prose, poetry is written in paragraphs. A poetry paragraph is called a stanza. The poetry stanza on the first page of the story is four lines long.

It’s the end of the week,
it’s the best of all sights–
beneath the night sky
lies a field of bright lights!

Notice the use of end rhyme in this stanza. The word at the end of the second line:

it’s the best of all sights–

rhymes with the word at the end of the fourth line:

lies a field of bright lights!

The words at the end of the second and fourth lines rhyme perfectly!

The website Literary Devices defines perfect rhyme this way:

“A perfect rhyme is a case in which two words rhyme in such a way that their final stressed vowel and all following sounds are identical e.g. sight and light, right and might, rose and dose etc.”

When the words rhyme perfectly they are a delight to read aloud. When the words are close but not quite the same, something doesn’t sound quite right. Finding just the right word is essential for writing in rhyme. As Mark Twain once said:

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Today’s Little Ditty.